Harry Potter and the path of a BattleMage
by hellz swordsman
Summary: Harry Potter Realizes a few thing. First Voldemort isn't dead and doesn't plan to leave him alone. And two he currently has no way to beat him. so he seeks out someone with the same movements as he had after killing Quirrell. What will the Wizarding world do with a Harry Potter trained for the sole purpose of fighting and defeating his enemies. And who will he consider his enemies
1. Chapter 1

Harry potter woke up in the hospital room of Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry. In the beds beside him were the students that were being treated for petrifaction. He frowned to himself thinking of how they should all be safely cured by now. The basilisk was dead and Ginny was saved from tom riddle's diary. But something was missing. He didn't see his friends around him. They all had things to do, he realized this, but there was no indication that anybody had been here since he arrived. He gazed longingly at Hermione's still form and decided that he needed time to think. He climbed painfully out of the bed and left the infirmary. He made his way towards the Gryffindor tower. Once inside he stealthily made his way to his room and grabbed his cloak. However as he was making his way towards the astronomy tower he was grabbed by Fred and George Weasley. They quickly pulled him into an abandoned classroom. Once the door was securely locked they turned to him.

"We realize that you probably need time to think and possibly brood Harry." One twin, Fred harry realized once he spoke first, stated.

"But we need to tell you something." George stated quietly but seriously.

Harry was quiet for a moment before lowering his hood and nodding for them to continue. George motioned for fred to begin.

"We realize that you are the reason we still have a little sister and we would like to tell you." Fred stated looking more serious than Harry had ever seen him in these last two years.

"That whether our father formerly accepts it or not there is a debt between our family and yours." George said with a solemn tone that frankly frightened Harry.

"And because of that we pledge to you that we will be there for you as vassals of house Potter." Fred stated pulling out a knife.

"Our mother didn't want to 'burden' you with the knowledge that our family owes yours." George said pulling out a small silver chalice.

"But the truth is that she just doesn't want to have you over her." Fred said offering the knife to Harry. Harry took the knife feeling surreal.

"See the fact of the matter is that if our father acknowledged our families debt to you we would become yours to command." George said placing the cup before Harry.

"And our dear mother has always somewhat resented our status as low ranking family." Fred said with a sad smile.

"So she convince dad that you were to young to have such things over your head." George said in a similar melancholy.

"She's not really a bad person she just feels as though our family has been shafted by the pure-blood society at large and is looking out for us." Said Fred with a explanatory tone. And harry truly could sympathize. He would do anything for his friends and family was supposed to be even closer than friends.

"We're getting off track brother mine." George said, a soft reminder to why they had cornered Harry.

"Your right of course brother mine. We need a bit of your blood in the chalice Harry-kins." Fred said with a wry smile. Harry contemplated that as he looked at the brothers, oh so like his own. If he couldn't trust these to then there was no one in the world he could. He centered his palm over the chalice and slide the razor edged knife along it. His blood quickly filled the cup and was about to over fill when the cut healed. Harry looked at the twins questioningly.

"Magic knife." Fred grunted in response to Harry's questioning gaze.

"Made for just such an occasion." George added.

Harry watched enthralled as Fred picked up the cup and began to speak. "As you laid down your health for our kin we lay down ours for yours." Fred then brought the cup to his lips and took a long drink. He then passed the cup to his twin.

George picked up the speaking from then. "We take of your blood to symbolize this pact. Forevermore we shall further your interests and help with your goals." Then he also took a long drink from the cup. When the cup was emptied the twins continued on in synchronization.

"Your enemies are ours. Your friends are ours. Through victory or defeat we will follow you. This is our pledge let magic be our witness as we bind ourselves and our heirs to you and you line." When they finished speaking their bodies began to glow and soon a white light had surrounded them. Little did they know that the magic being use was felt all through the castle.

When they finally stopped glowing Fred and George nodded to Harry and turned to leave. Fred turned back to the confused twelve year old. "We will leave you to your thoughts my lord."

"Come to us if you need anything." George said as they left the room. Once the twins were out of ear shot of Harry fred sighed.

"He wouldn't have agreed to that if he was thinking clearly." George said with a sad sigh.

Fred merely nodded. His twin was right after all, but done was done and it would prove to be the right choice. He was sure of it.

Harry sat alone on top of the battlements of the astronomy tower gazing across the grounds of Hogwarts thinking of the wizarding world as a whole and their incompetence. Forcing someone else to fight their battles. He thought of what he had seen before passing out in the Headmaster's office.

(flashback)

Harry stood in front of the headmaster's desk telling what had happened against the basilisk. He had just gotten to the part where fawkes had healed the bite when in swept Lucius Malfoy. He glared at Dumbledore and sneered.

"I believe that you were dismissed by the board of governors." Lucius stated with contempt.

"It's funny you should mention that Lucius as the governors unanimously decided that I was the best person to be here in this crisis. They were also under the assumption that if they didn't vote me out their families would be in some vague form of danger."

"I'm sure I have no idea what your talking about you old fool but that hardly matters I'm here for an update. Is the situation under control?" Lucius sneered.

"As it happens it is in fact resolved." Dumbledore said with a gleam in his eyes.

"Oh so you managed to catch the one responsible?" Lucius asked with a predatory look in his eyes.

"Why yes in fact we did." Dumbledore said with a glimmer of anger.

"And just who was it that perpetrated this crime? I'm sure Minister Fudge would like to offer them Azkaban's flaunted hospitality." Lucius stated looking downright giddy.

"The same person who did it last time." Dumbledore stated rather calmly. "Your old master in fact."

Harry simple looked at the cowering elf behind Lucius. He noticed right away that it was Dobby. He also noticed that Dobby was looking at the diary on the desk and then at Lucius before slamming his head into a wall. Harry's eyes widened as the pieces fell into place. He turned a glare fill with hatred at Lucius.

"It was you!" Harry roared angrily. "You gave the diary to Ginny hoping to get her sent to Azkaban!"

Lucius turned an angry gaze to Harry and glared. "You should watch were you level such accusations boy some people are simply out of your reach." He stated before he released the tight hold he had on his magic. Harry felt as though a mountain had been pressed down on him. He instantly began sweating and lost all the air from his lungs. The last thing he saw was dobby leaping in front of him, while Dumbledore roared angrily and rose from his chair with Fawkes flaring to his side.

(flashback end)

Harry realized that he was so far below Lucius' league that it was laughable. He hadn't even been able to stay on his feet when he came into contact with the pressure of Lucius' inner magic. At this point Harry knew two things. Voldemort wasn't dead, in fact he was trying to return. And two was that he was hopelessly, hilariously out gunned. He lost the ability to even breathe when he had been in front of Malfoy's father so how on earth was he to fight Voldemort?! Harry sneered at that thought and then yelled angrily to the sky.

Dumbledore looked at the portrait in front of his with a sad expression. It was the single most important frame in the school. It was the blank that allow every picture in the school to report to him anything of note in the school. The picture currently showed a small fat witch that overlooked an abandoned classroom near the astronomy tower. She had just relayed the events that had taken place there to him. He felt a single tear roll down his face at the report. For children so young to throw away their freedom so carelessly. It was a terrible state of affairs. It left him feeling hollow. As though all he had been working for equality wise in the world was useless. Not to mention the fact that once again Tom was putting his students at risk for his petty hatred.

"Fawkes what can I do? How do I make them see that this cycle of destruction only leads to more destruction?" Dumbledore asked the fiery being desperately. "How can there be peace when so much hatred and fear festers in the hearts of the populace. There has to be a way to overcome this mistrust they all have?!"

"I doubt Fawkes has anymore answers than usual Headmaster." Came a silky voice from the door. "Have you discovered what the burst of magic from earlier was?"

Dumbledore turned to see Serverus Snape and smiled sadly. "You are right of course. And as a matter of fact I have. It seems our resident prankster have taken it upon themselves to acknowledge the debt their parents didn't. They have sworn themselves as vassals of Harry Potter and his house."

Severus raised an eyebrow. "Those boys are seriously foolish to perform such binding magic to one so young and foolish."

"Severus surely you aren't still mistaking young Harry as James are you?" Dumbledore asked looking at his potionmaster in disappointment.

"No I am not. The boy is cut from the same cloth but he is his own fool." Severus said with a sneer. "He isn't even a mediocre student and I'm expected to believe that he will be our savior?!"

"He's just a boy, Severus surely he deserves a childhood?" Dumbledore asked looking at the younger man with pain filled eyes. "Why she he be treated as a weapon with nothing in mind but fighting?"

"Surely headmaster he should be trained so as to survive at least?!" Snape roared angrily. "Do you wish him to die the first time he comes up against someone against Lucius or Morgana forbid Bellatrix?!"

"I see you heard about the incident that took place in my office." Dumbledore said with a sad sigh.

Snape snorted. "Of course I did. It's all my foolish godson can speak about. Apparently Lucius is going to be taking an active role in young Draco's training this summer as is the Malfoy custom."

"And you believe he will be trained in the dark arts?" Dumbledore asked sharply.

"Of course." Snape said with a sneer. "He'll come back next year with blood on his hands or not at all."

Dumbledore slumped in his chair utterly defeated. "It seems there will be another lost to the darkness."

"It was always going to happen. Draco believes that he is Merlin's gift to the wizard world and with Lucius' vast library he will have the ability and money to back up his arrogance."

"Why must so many fall into darkness. They only ever feed the hatred eating the world." Dumbledore said with a broken countenance.

"Not only, headmaster." Severus said softly with a distant look seeing something only he could.

"I'm sorry Severus. You are right of course not only, it just seems that we are fighting an uphill battle my friend. One with no end in sight." Dumbledore said with a defeated sigh.

Severus turned towards the door to leave when he heard. "Severus?" He paused without looking back.

"Young mister Potter is atop the astronomy tower could you see him safely to the Gryffindor tower?" Dumbledore asked tiredly.

Severus gave a curt nod and left his cloak flapping behind with him. He made his way to the Astronomy tower and found Harry sitting there looking lost deep in troubled thoughts. Severus looked at the boy with an expression clouded over with pain and hatred. Finally he cleared his throat making his presence known.

Harry spun around and saw Professor Snape and frowned. He got up from where he was sitting and grabbed his cloak.

"You should put that on." Snape grunted "if it was noted that I was beside you and you where out of bounds after curfew you would have to be punished by default."

Harry quickly complied and began following Snape from the tower. After they had come half way to the Gryffindor Tower Harry spoke.

"Professor you were in the last war weren't you?"

Snape stopped dead and in a strangled whisper asked. "Why would you ask me that?"

"I need to find a way to get stronger. When Malfoy released his magic on me I couldn't even breath." Harry said by way of explanation. "I need someone who has actually fought to help me and you walk around like I did after I k-killed Quirrel."

Severus was silent for a moment standing in the hallway looking for all the world to see like he was alone. Finally he said. "What you ask isn't something I would start lightly. I would demand the very best from you and I'll push you till you break from the strain of it, only to push you even harder. Are you truly sure you want to do this?"

Harry gulped but he eventually nodded in affirmative. He had to. He couldn't be weak when Voldemort returned. Little did he know that the consequences of this decision would change the would forever.


	2. Chapter 2

The next day was the first instance when people would realize that Severus Snape had decided to train Harry Potter. Dumbledore was making the happy announcement that the mandrakes were now mature and the petrified students would soon be restored. It was then that Snape stood up and cleared his throat. Dumbledore looked at Snape in confusion but stepped back and allowed him to continue.

"It has come to my attention that one amongst you wishes to become my apprentice in all things. This of course will take that student out of the regular curriculum and cause them to do independent self-study that I subject them to." Snape said with his usual condescending voice. "This is not be mistaken for favoritism as I will be pushing said student into the ground for the rest of his academic career. He will only be allowed to exit my service once I have decided that he is ready for mastery. The apprentice price has already been paid and accepted. And now that he is of age for an apprentice to be accepted he is now ready to take the apprentice oath in this hall for all of you to witness."

"…Severus who is this young man that you're talking about?" Dumbledore asked feeling a bit of trepidation forming.

Draco Malfoy who had been preening happily started to stand until Severus Snape said the one this that could kill Draco's happiness quickest. "Harry Potter." Draco proceeded to faint dead away, just as the doors to the great hall opened revealed a black cloaked Harry Potter who walked into the great hall before kneeling in front of Snape.

Without preamble Harry began to speak the oath in magic lace Latin like Snape had coached him for three hour before this. Dumbledore tried to interrupt this but didn't get to as he was silenced by both Weasley twins discreetly. Given that twin magic intertwines he wasn't quick enough to unsilence himself before harry was done and it was too late. It was done and Harry was asking permission to go to the Gryffindor dorms and retrieve his possessions. When it was given he hurried out trying to get his stuff and get out before he was cornered by his former housemates. He was mostly successful, except for the twins. His vassels. He was caught on his way out of the tower and dragged bodily into an abandoned classroom just as a horde of screaming students thundered up the stairs.

"Well that was a good show mate." George said with a smirk.

"Yeah it was inspired you might say." Fred agreed.  
"Now the question that we have to ask." George said without preamble.

"Is, are you sure you know what you're doing?" Fred asked without any hint of a joke.

Harry looked from one twin to the other. Before he sighed. "After you two swore me your allegiance I had a run in with Malfoy senior. He unleashed his magic at me and I couldn't even breathe."

Fred nodded knowingly. "Yes I imagine not."

George nodded grimly. "He was supposedly one of you-know-who's chief lieutenants."

"Yeah it wouldn't be a position he could have gotten just for pure smooth talking alone." Fred said with a grim expression.

"So Liège lord we only have one thing to ask." George said with grim satisfaction.

"What do you need us to do to help?" Fred asked with a down right frightening smirk.

Harry gulped and took a moment to think about this. Then he nodded to himself. "I need you two to start practicing combat. I don't think we can compete with people fifty years our superior by just magic alone. This world needs a new form of combat. I'm thinking maybe melee and possibly combat magic. We can't waste time learning simple charms and household spells when we need to be learning to fight and k-k-kill our enemies." Harry said stuttering only slightly over the word kill.

The twins looked grimly at each other before nodding. "As you say my lord." They said in unison before leaving.

Harry sighed before making his way to the dungeons and into Snape's personal chambers. When he arrived he was guided to a room off the living room designed for apprentices to stay in their master's quarters.

"Get some sleep tomorrow begins your training we will start with physical then you will have a few books to read. From there you will be studying runes." Snape said with a small frown. "I'm not going to go easy on you potter. Such a thing cannot be afforded. So I'm going to break you down and rebuild you as a warrior who will be able to take on any and all threats."

Harry nodded slowly but his expression was pure determination. Snape gazed at him intently before nodding to himself.

It had been two weeks since harry had sworn the apprentice oath to Snape and it was still the talk of the school. Dumbledore had tried to overthrow the decision but when he realized that having Snape release him would constitute as harry no longer receiving training of any kind he backed off. Of course this wasn't the only trouble. Draco Malfoy tried his hardest to cause harry trouble every time he saw him which wasn't surprising to harry. What was surprising was that so had most of the Gryffindor house. Harry didn't care though he merely ignored them and practice his emotionless face. On the inside, he was furious at them for daring to turn his back on him. For trying to learn how to defeat Voldemort to keep them all safe. He quickly closed his heart to them all. He was happy to find out that he still had a few people who didn't change their minds more than their underwear. Neville was foremost in that list along with the entire Gryffindor Quidditch team. However today was the day that Hermione was going to be getting out of the Hospital wing. So he was making his way to the hospital wing so he could be there when she woke up. He hoped she still would be his friend after this.

He walked in only to hear a shriek coming from Hermione's bed which was covered with a curtain. So in desperation he rushed forward dodging passed madam Pomphrey who had just exited the curtain. He passed without listening when she tried to stop him. He burst in and stopped upon seeing Hermione. He had to admit to himself at least that he was confused. There seemed to be nothing physically wrong with her….except she was once again a black furred catgirl.

"Harry?" Hermione asked hoarsely.

"I missed you Hermione." Harry said diving forward and wrapping his arms around her. She was taken aback from his lack of reaction to her being a catgirl again but gently rubbed his back, while waving madam Pomphrey away.

"What's wrong Harry?" She asked in concern. Without meaning to Harry began to babble about the last two months from the time she had been petrified. He went on in great length about how the school had reacted to him becoming Snape's apprentice. Particularly about how Gryffindor had been shunning him. When he had calmed down enough to reengage his emotionless mask she was seething. And it only seemed fair that after hearing his rant that he hears her's out. When she was down she had pretty much disavowed herself of Gryffindor house.

It was decided that they would work on anything Snape gave him together so that she could grow stronger as well. She also asked Madam Pomphrey what was required to become a mediwitch so that she could take over as Harry's medic. It was with a happy heart that Harry looked to the future.


	3. Chapter 3

Harry looked out from the school as all the students began to leave for the summer. He would be staying at Hogwarts from now on trying to learn advanced Magics. It had been an aggravating last week in Hogwarts. Dealing with former friends as well as the antagonism of the remaining students of Hogwarts was absolutely angering. Beside him stood Hermione. She was true to her word about learning healing from Madam Pomphrey. Harry gazed at the children trying to decided how he felt about staying here at Hogwarts. On one hand he was now effectively in the charge of a man who had berated and belittled him for the past two years. On the other hand, Hermione was going to be forced to stay here until she receives another rune inscribed bracelet to hide her still furry appearance. She had spoken to harry about it. Apparently she had never been cured of the condition, just hiding it with an illusion. Harry wasn't sure what to do with that information, but he decided to file it away for future reference anyway.

He thought back to the first thing Severus had done was teach him a ministry restricted technique.

FLASHBACK

Harry stood in Severus' private study. Across from him was the dungeon bat himself holding a book that read. RUNESIGNS: THE ART OF WANDLESS MAGIC.

"This is something you will need to learn, because that wand is a liability to you. If you don't start using this now you won't be able to at all." Severus said with a frown. "This is something that the ministry doesn't want to be spread out as it isn't traceable like a wand. DO NOT LOOSE THIS BOOK! It is the last copy that I know of in the entirety of Great Britain. Do not get caught with this book. If it is confiscated, consider yourself discarded from the role of my apprentice. Now I know that you are going to show this too granger, and I don't care, but DO NOT show it to Weasley."

"I wouldn't show it to him anyway. He wouldn't appreciate it for one thing and he was the first one to decry me when I became your apprentice." Harry said with a monotone, he was still practicing his emotionless façade. "However I might show it to Neville. The twins said his house has been allies of mine for the last twelve hundred years."

Snape sneered, but nodded. "That is acceptable given his poor performances with wanded magic." Severus frowned for a moment in thought. Then he looked at Harry. "He is very good at herbology is he not?"

"Yes sir." Harry said with a calm expression.

"Send him this book." Severus said getting up and grabbing a book off his shelf. "Tell him he can keep it as it is of no use to me, but he may get some use from it."

"If I may sir?" Harry asked without emotion.

"Very well." Severus said with frustration.

"Why are you being so nice to my friends now?" Harry asked with a frown.

Severus sighed with a heavy frown. "I, like all others, am a man. I have made countless mistakes, that have cost me everything from my best friend and the love of my life to a tortured life of servitude. Your father was very unkind to me, and in all my hatred of the man I grew to hate the very idea of you. I have recently learned that you are not in fact James Potter so I'm using a technique called Occlumency to compartmentalize everything I think of when I see how much you look like my childhood bully and only see you as Harry Potter, my apprentice and the only chance to kill the bastard who killed Lily."

Harry nodded at this. "If that will be all sir, I will deliver this tome to Neville." He said with a hint of submission in his voice.

END FLASHBACK

Harry and Hermione were both soaked with sweat, and breathing heavily. In front of them stood Severus Snape with his normal sneer and a raised eyebrow. He looked at the two students and grimaced at the weakness. How was it that they had made it this far in their Hogwarts education, while still being so out of shape. They lived in a seven story castle, and had classes on every single place throughout. They shouldn't have this much trouble simply running around a lake. It wasn't even that hot outside!

Harry straightened up and looked at Severus for his next exercise. Severus nodded and gave him a list. Then he returned to the castle. He had a plethora of potions to complete after all.

Time skip one hour.

Harry looked down at Hermione. She normally uncontrollable hair was now tamed in a mane of micro braids. It strangely made her look like a braided lion. Her tawny fur was flat to her body with a sheen of sweat, and she looked ready to pass out. But she was now in her zone today Severus had run them through the ringer, and it wasn't even lunch. But the physical part was done now it was time to study magic, in ways that would give the pencil pushers of the ministry a coronary. They had both destroyed their wands and started practicing all their previously mastered spells with only Runesigns. It was a problem because most of the spell were designed to make this difficult. Apparently in the fifteen hundreds it was common to use Runesigns but with the founding of the ministry Runesigns were quietly discouraged. And as a consequence wanded magic was designed to be much more difficult to preform thus making it seem that it was so much more difficult to do wandless magic.

To put it simply they were fighting an uphill battle. Not impossible, but difficult as getting into a fist fight with a giant. Needless to say neither had managed to do more than a simple floating charm and a fire-starting charm respectively. Harry decided that he didn't like this much. Also Hermione was completely distraught at the thought that without wands almost the entire branch of transfiguration was no longer applicable. But both clung to their motivation. Harry chose this to fight on equal terms to Voldemort, and Hermione chose this to make sure her little brother figure always had someone in his corner to protect and fight for him.

Neville sat in his greenhouse looking at the plants surrounding him. They represented all he had ever been good at. Up until Harry let him read the tome on Runesigns. He had resigned his father's wand back to its place on the mantle beside his mother's as soon as he came home. He had been practicing Runesigns ever since. They were hard, but he made slight headway. He had delved into the Longbottom library and began looking at the oldest tome trying to decipher the family magic. Turned out they had been battle mages with the Vikings, same as the Potters. Except where the potter's specialty seemed to have been runes, the Longbottom specialty had been elemental magic. Earth and water specifically. So he began to learn a branch of magic that seemed to come easier to him than wanded magic ever had. That wasn't to say he became a battlemage after simply reading the book. No he was forced to spend countless hours practicing and training. It seemed that to be a battle mage required a great deal of physical strain. Unlike wanded magic, he found that to do something wandless or Runesigns you needed to be powerful enough to do it physically. Like the spell he had learned to force the earth to raise up and form a wall, required the energy that it would take to build said wall. Needless to say he was getting a great amount of exercise. He had also taken up learning to use the Longbottom ancestral war axe. It was a six-foot-long staff with a wicked looking double-bladed bearded axe head. Now he was looking at the book that Harry had given him. He wasn't going to be left behind and useless. He would stand at Harry's side and help when the time came.

Fred and George Weasley stood in front of the cauldron looking at all the prank stuff they had developed in their brief time as Hogwarts' resident prankster kings. Inside were all the things that they had decided weren't fit for battle in any form. Things like trick wands, punching telescopes, and various joke candies.

"You know brother mine. Once we do this there will be no going back. Full on battle mode till the end." Said the twin on the right. (that's right even the author can't tell them apart!)

"I know brother mine. I also know he'd never ask us to do this, but we need to be committed and as our liege lord it's our job to do everything for his best interests." Stated the twin on the left.

"So be it." Sighed the twin on the right. "So ends the Weasley twins, pranksters extraordinaire."

"So begins Weasley twins Quartermasters of house Potter." The left twin said lighting and throwing a match into the cauldron.

Ginny Weasley sat in her room looking at all the stuff she once loved. Now however all of it seemed stupid and useless. She hid it well but after the incident inside the chamber she changed. She no longer cared about anything but getting stronger. The diary had almost devoured her soul. And there had been nothing she could do about it. Clutched to her chest was an old volume covered in dust and looked like it hadn't been opened in a century. The Weasley family Grimoire. The sum of the Weasley family spells. She had snuck into her parent's room and snatched it from under the bed. She simply held it to herself and stared blankly at the wall in front of her. She was clearly lost in thought when a small voice said.

"'Mistress? Are you going to open the old book or not?"'

The Youngest Weasley, the first girl in seven generations looked down at the small fiery serpent curled up in her lap. It had been the first snake she had encountered after the incident. Proof positive that she had been touched by Voldemort's horrid soul. A foot long ashwinder that had been on the brink of dying when she found it. In her desperation to keep it alive she had bound it as her familiar. Her mother had of course been furious, however for the first time in her life she saw her father put his foot down. Straight onto her mother's growing protests. She was allowed to keep the snake. She nodded and opened the book.


End file.
